At Least 530 Murders in Gun-Controlled Chicago During 2018

Scott Olson/Getty Images31 Dec 2018

There were over 530 murders in gun-controlled Chicago between January 1 and December 25, 2018, and that number could reach 550 or higher by year’s end.

The murders included male and female children, teenagers, mothers, fathers, grandparents, police officers, and more. The list includes residents from Chicago and visitors who came to city to see relatives on the city’s South Side.

The Chicago Sun-Timesreports that some of the victims were as young as one and others were as old as 93.

The Times notes that “the medical examiner had declared 539 deaths in Chicago” as of Christmas Day but the Chicago Police had the number at about 555. The Times reached a figure of 542 through independent research.

WGN9 and other outlets reported the murder toll with headlines that celebrated the fact that the city saw fewer murders in 2018 than it did in 2017. But an often overlooked point is that Chicago’s murder rate is still so high that a rise or fall in the city’s killings is actually a significant factor in driving up or down our nation’s overall murder numbers.

For example, when the number of murders in Chicago for 2017 came in lower than the number in 2016 the Timesreported, “A drop in homicides in Chicago alone accounted for a majority of the national decline in killings in 2017.”